Paulino traded to the Phils

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08345/934354-100.stm

His offensive approach was horrible, he couldn't throw out a baserunner to save his life, blocking the plate and hustling around the bases were not his thing. Nevertheless, he was my favorite bobblehead.

This other catcher they got doesn't look too bad, could be a backup to Doumit. Nothing to get excited about but anytime a player that doesn't want to be part of the team is traded, its a good thing.

Even after a night to digest this, I'm not sure how I feel.

I like that we got the Phillies 10th best prospect. I'm cool with that. Another switch-hitting catcher, one that was blocked in Philly.

And I understand that Paulino had QUICKLY worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh and had even asked to be traded.

But here's the thing. He have depth issues at other positions, including middle infield and pitching. I'd also say we are weak at 1st base depth. After Steve Pearce, who is there? And he's more of a right fielder now. With the Marlins apparently really like Paulino, and in fact cutting Matt Treanor, giving them no depth at the position, and with other teams calling about Ronny, it just seemed like an ideal time to actually make a good trade.

We now have four catchers on our 40 man roster. Is that normal? Seems like one too many.

Now we might address this in today's rule 5 draft, i don't know. But with Paulino having a good winter, and other area's that need addressed, I just feel we should have be able to do better.

I'm happy with this forum, but should we ask Jake to see if he'd want to open one up at his new site? Maybe get more people involved in the discussion forum.

Polka,
I understand the concern especially since they didn't address this by swapping catchers. They probably wanted to unload Paulino since it became obvious he didn't want to be there.
Looks like the depth issues in the infield are being dealt with. Supposedly they are close to signing Ramon Vazquez to a 2 year 4 million dollar contract. I really don't know much about him, but I hope he is better than Gomez, Bixler and Rivas. Not surprisingly he played for the Indians when Huntington was there.

I am happy with this forum too, it would be nice to have more contributors. The old bucco blog erased the post with this forum's link. Granted I'm not real good with the internet, but I lost the link when my computer crashed and had a hard time finding this site. I thought Jake "retired". Guess he pulled a Brett Favre!

I'm waiting to see if the Phillies trade Paulino to Florida for a real prospect. Not to sound cynical, but the Marlins have been the team interested in him for a long time.